Lady&#39;s apparel



L. BRENNER- LADYS APPAREL.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 12. 1922.

' Patented June 27, 1922.

ZWIZ'JY Bren new umrso STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LoUIs BRENNER, or new YORK, N. Y.

LADY S APPAREL.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J 27 1922 Application filed April 12, 1922. Serial No. 551,900.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LoUIs BRENNER, a

a specification.

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My present invention relates to ladies clothing and more especially to close fitting garments such as brassieres worn underneath the ordinary outer garments.

It may be noted that where a brassiere is designed to fit .a person of average form or shape, it may be either too tight or too loose in places for comfort and neatness, where the wearers form departs from the average. If a portion of the garment is made of rubber to mitigate this difliculty, not only is the cost ordinarily increased but the life of the garment is materially shortened due to disintegration of the rubber, particularly from perspiration and washing.

It is accordingly an object of my invention to provide a durable garment of the above type, a given size of which will fit a personof corresponding bust measurement with the desired snugness and without binding or looseness at any point, whether such person have or depart from a normal or average form or shape.

According to a preferred feature of the invention, I provide a brassiere which may be of any desired material or fabric, preferably without rubber or elastic section, and provided with coact-ing fastening elements near the opposite ends thereof to fit a body of a corresponding bust measurement and of definite form and provided with one or more auxiliary or alternative sets of fastening1 elements to correctly fit the garment ody of the same bust measurement but of different form or shape.

In the preferred s ecific embodiment, thesets of alternative astening elements are arranged along a tape extending transversely of the garment and along lines d1- verging from each other from near the center of the garment, so that the garment would fit a person of definite bust measurement but could be fastened in alternative methods above or below the line of bust measurement to fit bodies having different measurements in the region above or below that of the main or bust measurement.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement .of parts which will be exemplified in the construction herelnafter set forth, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of various possible embodiirznents of the several features of the invenion,

Fig. 1 is a view of my garment applied to the body, the covering flap being folded back to show the auxiliary fastening construction.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view on a larger scale of the fastening ends of the brassiere band preparatory to fastening, and

Fig. 3 is a view on a small scale of a roll from which one of the tapes of my brassiere is. cut.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings. 7

Referring now the drawings, I have shown a brassiere comprising a band element 1 made up of a plurality of panels 2 stitched-together as at 3 in the usual manner, the front fitting portion of the band being connected by shoulder straps 4 to the rear fitting portion. coacting fastening elements to be described below, being provided preferably at the left side of the brassiere and covered by a closure flap 5 to the end of 'which is connected a strap 6 preferably tied into a bow with a coacting strap 7 projecting from a plaque 8 at the right side of the brassiere. The brassiere also has the usual fastening element 9 by which its lower end is anchored to the corset.

The fastening elements comprise preferably a line of hooks 10 secured at equal intervals to a tape 11 stitched across the width of the band at the base of the closure fla 5.

F or coaction with the line of hooks 10, I preferably provide equidistant eyes 12 extending in a row A-B upon a tape 16 stitched to the end of the brassiere band opposite flap 5. In addition to the row of eyes AB, I provide an alternative set of eyes 13, extending in a row CD, which is also located upon the tape and intersects the row A-B. In the preferred embodiment the two eyes .14 and 15 midway be- 50 ,bust measurement or number, viz. the

tween the upper and lower edges of the brassiere are common to both rows A--B and C-D, so that for every manner of closing the garment the eyes 14 and 15 will be used and the location of these two eyes determines the fixed bust measure which in turn determines the stock size number of the garment.

The eyes 12 and 13 are so positioned along the rows AB and CD that from the eye 14 upward to the corresponding eyes in the rows AB and C-D, the distance along each row is the same. Also from the eye 15 downward to corresponding eyes along the rows AB and CD the distance along each row is the same. The result of this arrangement is that the hooks may enga e the eyes along the row AB or along C or along AB above the eye 14 and along C-D below the eye 15 or vice versa and, whichever path is chosen for engaging the hooks with the eyes, the equal spacing of corresponding eyes along the row AB and C--D assures a perfectly flat closure of the garment.

A person of average form would close the fasteners by applying the set of hooks 10 to the respective eyes 12 along row AB. If the person is smaller in the chest than the average form for which the garment is designed, the upper set of hooks would be fastened along the upper group of four eyes 13 instead of the corresponding eyes 12. If the waist line is larger than that of the average form for which the garment is designed, the lower set of hooks would be applied to the lower group of three eyes 13 instead of the corresponding eyes 12. If while the bust measurement of the wearer is that of the garment, the upper chest line of the wearer 1s smaller than the average and the waist line larger than the average, then the hooks would be fastened alongthe row C-D. In every case the central eyes 1 1 and 15 are used since as heretofore noted they determine the fixed bust measurement of the garment. Thus, my garment, though devoid of elastic sections, adapted for snug fit without binding or looseness at any point for four different forms of wearers of a given average chest and average Waist, the reduced chest and average waist, the average chest and enlarged waist and the reduced chest and enlarged waist.

For effecting firm closing of the upper end of the brassiere, I prefer to provide a cross tape 17 transversely overlapping the upper end of tape 16 the upper eye 18 of the line AB and the upper eye 19of the line C-D being attached to said cross-tape which carries also a third eye 20. There is also provided a cross tape 21 extending along the flap 5 and transversely overlapping the upper end of tape 11, the upper hook 22 and an additional hook 23 being secured upon said'cross tapel It will be unde stood that hooks 22 and 23 will be brought into coaction respectively with eyes 19 and 18 for the large chest adjustment, and with eyes 18 and 17 for the normal chest adjustment.

The straps 6 and 7 are closed in the usual manner and it will be understood that instead of such straps, I may provide short lines of tape or elastic short pieces with snap or equivalent fasteners (not shown) upon the adjacent portions of the brassiere.

It will be understood that the eyes on tape 16 can be sewed to a continuous roll of tape in a manner easily understood, preferably by machinery of the type commonly used for attaching a continuous line of fasteners to a tape at equal intervals, the machine being appropriately modified for attachment of the fasteners along the lines zigzagging back and forth in regular order as best shown in Fig. 3. In manufacture of the garment the roll 24 of tape would simply be cut into equal segments, one segment 25 being shown out along lines i2' and 7'j,' the next identical segment 26 cut off at line 7clc, each said segment with the eyes thereon being a duplicate of the tape 16, Fi s. 1 and 2. As

appears from Fig. 1 the distance between adjacent pairs of eyes atbpposite sides of a cutting line -i-i, on the roll is preferably somewhat greater than the uniform space between other eyes, to provide for the ends Z and m of tape 16 beyond the upper and lower eyes thereon.

It will be seen that the particular arrangement of hooks and eyes set forth is merely illustrative and that a greater number of sets of eyes may be provided and that the arrangement of fasteners may be departed from, also that the alternative sets of fasteners may be hooks ,coacting with a single set of eyes and also that snap or equivalent complementary fasteners may be substituted for the hooks and eyes.

It will further be understood that although I prefer to carry out the invention in brassieres, the principleis applicable to corsets, petticoats, skirts or other garments.

It will thus be seen that-there is herein described a garment in which the several features of this invention are' embodied and which attains the various objects of the in vention and is well suited to meet the requirements of practical use.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and many apparently widely difierent embodiments of this invention could be made without departin from the scope thereof, it is intended that l mat- I 1. A garment comprising a member to embrace a substantial portion of the body be: tween the neck. and hips, a set of fastening elements near one end 'of said member, a plurality of alternative sets of fastening ele ments near the other end of said member,

ber closed about the body, said alternative setsibeing arranged in intersecting rows, the corresponding individual fastening members of said sets being spaced at equal distances along said ,rows.

5. A brassiere comprising a non-elastic band member, a transverse tape near one end thereof, a row of fasteners secured to the tape, a transverse tape near the other each set complementary to the first set and end of said band, and a plurality of alteradapted to co-operate therewith to maintain the member closed about the-body, said alter native sets .being arranged in intersecting rows, the corresponding individual fastening members of said sets being spaced at equal distances along said rows.

2. A brassiere comprising a non-elastic band member, 'a set of fastening elements near one end ofsaid band, a plurality of alternative sets of fastening elements near the other end of said band, each set complementary to the first set and adapted to co-. operate therewith to maintain the member closed about the body, said alternative sets being arranged in intersecting rows, the corresponding individual fastening members of said sets being spaced at equal distances along said rows. 1

3. A garment, comprising a member to embrace a substantial portion of the body between the neck and hips, fastening elements arranged in a row adjacent one end of the member, complementary fastening elements adjacent the other end of the member, said complementary fastening elements being arranged in X shaped formation.

4. A garment comprising a member to embrace a substantial portion of the body between the hips and neck, a transverse tape near one end thereof having a set of fastening elements secured to said tape, .a transverse tape near' the other end of said member, a plurality of alternative sets of fastening elements secured thereto, each set complementary to the first set and adapted to co-operate therewith to maintain the memnative sets of fasteners thereon, each set complementary to the first set and adapted to co-operate therewith to maintain the ends of the band in overlapped relation, said alternative sets being arranged in intersecting rows, the corresponding individual fastening members of saidsets being spaced at equal distances along said rows.

6. In a brassiere, in combination, a band,

a tape extending thereacross near one end thereof,a line of equidistant fasteners on vsaid tape, a second tape extending acrosssaid band near the other end thereof, a line of equidistant complementary fasteners along said tape for coaction with said first fasteners, a line of auxiliary complementary v fasteners diverging from a point intermediate the ends of said first line of compleinentary fasteners and extending to an end of said band, the corresponding individual fasteners on said tapes being spaced at equal distances along said lines, a cross tape element extending at right angles to said second tape and carrying two equidistant complementary fasteners and a second cross tape element near the upper end of said first tape carrying an auxiliary complementary fastener for coaction alternatively with one or the other fastener of the cross tape depending upon whether the line of fasteners are fastened upon the main or auxiliary set of complementary fasteners.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 8th 

